Star Wars with occasional sarcasm

Season 2 of Rebels will feature a character voiced by none other than Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar. She does have an ‘in:’ her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., voices Kanan, but… She’s Buffy. Isn’t that enough?

Kevin Hearne’s Heir to the Jedi brings a lot of firsts, as far as Star Wars novels go. It’s the first of the new canon novels to feature one of the big three characters; the first Star Wars first-person novel* to feature an actual movie character, and the first canon novel to be set after A New Hope. It’s also the first of the new novels I actually had any interest in reading.

Now, I don’t expect a Star Wars novel to rock the very galaxy, particularly when set in a movie-limited era like this one is. I wasn’t expecting a game-changing book by any means. And generally, I don’t mind a quieter story, as long as it’s an engaging one that keeps me wanting to read.

Unfortunately, Heir to the Jedi delivers an unremarkable tale that fails to make much of an impression. From the first-person conceit to the title that seems deliberately reminiscent of Heir to the Empire, it seemed to me like the book was writing several checks that it completely failed to cash.

There is a major spoiler under the cut, but it’s black-barred so you can avoid it.Continue reading →

Fulcrum was revealed in last night’s ‘Fire Across the Galaxy,’ and this is the last post where I’m going to dance around that. In ‘Rebels Recon’ they talk about the returning characters, and give us a peek at Rebels S2.

/Film talked to Chris Weitz, the new screenwriter for Spin-off #1. We don’t learn much (will this mystery box ever open?) but he does more or less confirm that Garry Whitta’s draft is still in play. When asked to compare it to Cinderella:

I think in this case I’m not working from a whole cloth, right? So there’s a very strong structure from Gary’s work and that’s a huge advantage to me. But just like with Cinderella, it’s a director’s medium so it’s really about my making what Gareth needs to do his film.

They also talked to Whitta a few weeks ago, something that got lost in the shuffle over here.

The first six Star Wars movies will get a retelling in LEGO. Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales, a limited 5-episode series, will air on Disney XD “later this year,” per The Hollywood Reporter. The saga will be told through the eyes of Threepio and Artoo:

Set after the Rebel Alliance victory on Endor seen at the end of Return of the Jedi, the droids are regaling the assembly with their adventures that led them to their present situation. An accidental kidnapping leads to a new adventure that progresses to the retelling of the saga in chronological order, from The Phantom Menace to Return of the Jedi.

There’s no exact date yet, but I expect it won’t be long before The Force Awakens release in December.

UAE’s The National has an interview with Andy Nettleton, one of two helicopter pilots who worked on The Force Awakens as it filmed in Abu Dhabi. It’s a nice (and mostly spoiler-free) look at the process. (via)

→ Making Star Wars played it light this weekend, bringing us only a list of names and a hint at one recurring character – or is it species?